2001

It was the year when 9/11 occurred, when the summer was known as the 'Summer of Sharks,' when the average cost of living in a new house was  $136,150.00 , when the average cost of a new car was $25,850.00, when 120 people were killed in a stampede at a football game in Ghana, when the Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened after 11 years of repairs, and when Wikipedia was launched online (http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/2001.html). 2001 was the year of many things, which includes the PBS Frontline Documentary of Making Cents out of Teens: Merchants of Cool (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/). In it, it is said that $150 billions was spent by teens alone and another $50 billion was spent for the teens by their parents. Of course, those came from over 18 years ago so the numbers would have only gone up since them. 

This was all before the rush for named brands and the latest iPhones/headphones, so I'm left wondering what was being spent with that great amount of money 18 years ago. iPods were released that year, which blazed path for the years to come from the first iPhone to the iPhone XR.  As seen on the chart, the price of the iPhones commonly available today in stores is just about double  the price of the first iPhones. It may be that the prices of greater technology has increased for the advancement or that the general costs of all things has gone up in the past decade. 

Then again, phones aren't the only large payment of a person's yearly costs. There is the cost of utilities, housing, cars, food, education, and other non-essentials. And despite how commonly phones are deemed necessary for life today, their costs go into the non-essentials category according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. They also state how in the average life span of 78 years, a person will spend roughly $1.6 million purely to survive (https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Cost_of_Living). 
The question then rests of where the combined $200 billion of teen spending comes from. Going back to phones, the cost of phones will continue to increase every year. Most people assume that the cost of phones is only the cost of the physical phone like the $1000 iPhone X. However, the forecast of the Sensor Tower Store Intelligence's data shows how the average phone user will spend $88 on premium apps and phone service per year which equates to $5280 in a lifetime. This adds to the cost of the average number of phones a person will buy, 22, as well as the usage bill to bring the cumulative total to $75,354 (https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/this-is-how-much-your-smartphone-really-costs-over-a-lifetime). 
If we are able to see the costs of something like a phone progress over the years then the ultimate $200 billion appears to be easy to surpass in today's time. This goes back to the core of the documentary of how companies have catered their products to the wants/"needs" of the youths because that is where all the purchases comes from in the economy.